McIntosh, J. T. - Poor PlanetPOOR PLANET
J. T. McIntosh



I never was the tough he-man lady-killer type of spy, even when I was a lot 
younger. On the very rare occasions when beautiful girls enticed me into their 
bedrooms on exotic worlds, the whole operation was only too obviously designed 
to find out what Id found out, and the lovely ladies in question not only knew 
that I knew it, but knew that I knew that they knew itwhich tended to remove 
much of the glamor from the situation, and all the sex.
And by the time I landed at Arneville, capital of the planet Solitaire, to try 
to solve the enigma of a world that ought to be rich but wasnt, I was still 
less tough, still less of a he-man, than I had been when I was a mere stripling 
of thirty-five or forty. By the time I reached Arneville I was forty-eight, 
married, with three adolescent children. Terran Intelligence had only managed to 
talk me into going, and Phyllis into letting me go, because I was a historian 
and the job needed a genuine historian, and because intelligence agents hardly 
ever failed to return from Solitaire (so named because it was the only planet of 
its sun).
Solitaire let them come, let them sniff around for a while, and let them go, 
none the wiser. Occasionally, it was true, agents did not come back. Presumably 
theyd found out something. But the mortality rate was not high and Phyllis is 
a soldiers daughter, complete with stiff upper lip.
The first thing I noticed when I emerged from Arneville spaceport was that it 
was a cold city. (The fact that I knew this already, having done my homework, 
did not prevent me from noticing it.) Although the city wasnt bitingly, 
grindingly cold, it was never far above freezing-point. The previous nights 
snow was melting as I arrived and crashing in powdery avalanches from the roofs. 
The overhangs were constructed so that all this soft snow cascaded into the 
streets, missing the sidewalks. The people hurrying about didnt even look up.
The next thing I noticed about Arneville was that it was old-fashioned. It was 
like a twentieth or even nineteenth century Earth city transported many 
light-years and four centuries to Solitaire. The buildings, vehicles and clothes 
I saw were all heavy and solid and stolid, with not a hint of frivolity about 
any of them. Things on Solitaire were made to last, and last, and last.
I had got this far in my observations as I emerged from the spaceport and looked 
about me when a man came up to me. Mr. Edwin Horsefeld, from Earth? the 
stranger asked diffidently.
Yes, I said, looking at him. He was the oldest teenager I had ever seen, with 
the bland innocent fresh-faced look of a kid of fourteen although he must have 
been thirty-five at least. He was enthusiastic, shy, intense, determined to do 
his job well. Naturally he must be a counter-espionage agent.
Im Tom Harrison, he said eagerly. Ive been asked to contact you and give 
you any help I can
By whom? I asked pleasantly.
Some government department F.R.S., I think it was.
My opinion of Solitaires counter-espionage division, quaintly named Foreign 
Relations Security, went up several points. You had to admire a department that 
told you it knew you were a spy and offered to help you.
But then, Solitaires counter-espionage division must be good. Every other 
planet in the galaxy, convinced Solitaire had a secret of some kind, had been 
trying for a long time to find out what it wasand Terran Intelligence would 
have known if any of them had succeeded, even if it didnt know exactly what 
they had found out.
We could all guess about Solitaire. None of us knew.
Pleased to meet you, Mr. Harrison, I said, shaking hands. Are you a 
historian?
No, why?
It doesnt matter. Just an idea.
Im sorry, Mr. Horsefeld. I guess I cant help you in your work but I can tell 
you about libraries, hotels, stores
That will be very useful. Hotels first. Where do you suggest I should go?
Harrison hesitated. They told me youd probably want peace and quiet, a room in 
a decent, modest hotel where nobody would bother you. Is that right?
Exactly right.
Then maybe youd like to go to Parkview. Its cheap, clean
Fine. Lets go to the Parkview. I was perfectly happy to let Solitaires 
counter-espionage division put me where it liked. It would do that anyway.
Harrison took me to the Parkview, a small inn just off Arne Way, the main street 
in the city. Then, to my surprise, Harrison seemed not only ready but 
apologetically anxious to leave me. Id expected the devils own job getting out 
of his sight.
You can phone me either at Government House or at home, he said, giving me 
both numbers.
Just one thing before you go, Tommay I call you Tom? Wheres the nearest music 
store?
Music? he said vaguely, as if he had never heard the word. Oh, I guess you 
could try Prossers, just round the corner in Arne Way. I think they sell music 
as well as books.
Excellent, I said. That saves me the trouble of asking you where the nearest 
bookstore is. Thanks, Tom.
Thats all I can do for you just now?
I think so. Youve been a great help.
He colored. Its nothing, he said self-consciously. Ill look in this evening 
and see how youre making out.
Then he left. F.R.S. had informed me politely that it knew who I was, that it 
had its eye on me, and then left me to wander about Arneville as I pleased.
It might as well have told me in so many words that I wasnt going to find out 
anything.
Lunch at the Parkview was excellent. But why the Parkview, I wondered. Id heard 
of Arne Park, which was about the only thing in Solitaire most people had heard 
about. The Park must, however, be at least a mile along Arne Way and was not 
visible even from my top-floor bedroom. Nothing in that direction was visible 
except the blank wall of a massive office block.
If Solitaire had nothing to hide, I reflected, which was unlikely but not 
completely impossible, a known Terran spy might well be treated exactly as I was 
being treated. An intelligent counter-espionage division in a world which had no 
secretsif there was any such world would realize that the only way to convince 
other nations of this was to let them find it out for themselves.
After lunch I strolled round to Prossers. By this time most of the snow was 
brown slush.
It was just as well, I reflected, looking at the people in the streets, that I 
was forty-eight and no longer interested in girls. For there seemed no prospect 
of ever seeing a pretty girl in Arneville, at any rate a girl looking pretty. In 
boots, heavy coats and fur hoods, with faces pinched by the cold, women of 
sixteen, thirty-six and fifty-six looked much the same. None of them seemed to 
wear makeup, and since heating in most buildings was only moderately efficient, 
heavy, unattractive clothes were worn inside as well as out.
The young lady in Prossers, who might have been attractive if she tried, didnt 
seem to be trying. On top of a dress which was all right in itself she wore an 
assortment of woolen jackets in various colors and shapes. None of the latter 
coincided with hers.
Opera? she said. You must mean The Arne Story. Thats the only opera I know.
Thats it, I said.
A score? Thats the words and music, isnt it? You want to buy a copy?
An original copy, if possible. She went away and returned, after an 
interminable delay, with a paper-covered score. I looked at the date. It was a 
new edition published only the year before.
When I tried patiently to explain that what I really wanted was a copy of this 
opera printed a long time ago, she stared blankly and then brought a small, bald 
knowledgeable man to talk to me.
Yes, this is & revised edition, sir, he agreed. Quite extensively revised. 
Youre a foreigner, I take it? Yes, I thought so. You see, since theres only 
one native opera, and such a great masterpiece at that, its constantly being 
revised and improved. I believe the original version of The Arne Story was quite 
different from the version thats performed now
So I understand. Thats why Id like to see the original.
You could try a library. Ormaybe there would be an old copy at Jeromes. Its 
a little place that keeps a lot of old .  musical instruments and things like 
that.
The little knowledgeable man gave me detailed directions, and I trudged through 
the snow again along streets, which became narrower and shorter and dimmer. I 
might almost have been in Dickenss London.
At last I found Jeromes, which proved to be a tiny shop with a minute window 
offering a keyhole view of a startling variety of cornets, trumpets, trombones 
and mutes. I pushed the door open, stooping to enter, and blinked at the girl in 
charge.
She was the last, positively the last thing I expected in a place like Jeromes, 
in a city like Arneville, on a planet like Solitaire. She was very young, a 
nymphet, very pretty, and she was quite smartly dressed.
Good afternoon, she said,smiling pleasantly.
Five minutes ago, I said, I didnt think so. But now I see it is.
She laughed, being young enough to take naive delight in a frank, sincere 
compliment. It could only have been a matter of months since men started to pay 
her compliments; it might be years yet before experience taught her to look gift 
horses in the mouth.
She was a small brunette with the kind of slim, flawless twinkling legs which 
only nymphets possess. Above the legs was a short black skirt, and above the 
skirt a tight white blouse. Above the blouse was a pert, pretty little face 
which could have passed for se face of a beautiful child if her fully, though 
recently, enveloped contours had not been visible.
I wonder if you have an original score of The Arne Story? I asked.
You dont want much, do you? Its over two hundred years old. What are you 
smiling at?
You said that as if Id asked for the Arks sailing-list in Noahs own 
handwriting.
She laughed again. And I thought, in italics: If this lovely little creature 
really has been placed here by F.R.S., Im going to enjoy being led up the 
garden path.
Perhaps, if not an original, I said, you might have an early edition?
Well, if youd like to stick around for about three hours while I inspect the 
stock, she said briskly, I might turn up something.
It would be a pleasure, I said courteously, to stick around.
It was. It really did take nearly three hoursthe little shop had so many things 
in such a small space that it was necessary to shift half the stock in order to 
get at the other half. I soon learned the girls nameTerry Wood that her 
father was alive and her mother dead, that she had no brothers or sisters, that 
she had a passion for adventure, and that she didnt think I looked very old.
We couldnt help becoming better acquainted, for I had to hold instrument cases 
for her and move piles of music and stack boxes which she handed down to me. 
Apparently there was never any rush in Arneville shops; if a purchaser wanted 
something and you might have it, you thought nothing of spending an hour or two 
over a two-dollar sale that might not materialize anyway. Certainly Terry was 
not exactly off her feet. During the time she was searching for the score, there 
was just one customer, a reedy youth who wanted a clarinet reed.
The pleasure with which I examined Terrys pretty legs clear to the hips as she 
climbed ladders was neither guilty nor carnal. I had a daughter just Terrys 
age, and I told her so.
Before Terry at last triumphantly produced a fourth edition score of the opera, 
dated only three years after the first performance, we had arranged to go 
together to the opera house that night to see the contemporary The Arne Story.
Despite the ease with which this was arranged, I rejected for the moment the 
possibility that Terry had been planted in Jeromes by F.R.S. For one thing, her 
knowledge of the stock was remarkable, considering how much of it there was. For 
another, if F.R.S. had guessed that I would want an early edition of The Arne 
Story and had arranged for me to be directed to Jeromes, they must be even 
cleverer than I thought them.
 
In the early evening, before I set out for the opera house, Harrison called to 
see me. He glanced blankly at the yellowed score lying unopened on the bed.
The Arne Storytwo hundred years old! he said. What do you want that for?
As a historian, I said, my curiosity is boundless.
Harrison looked at me uncertainly. Oh, well. I guess you know your business. Is 
there any way I can help you?
Where, I asked, does one take a girl after the theater?
Harrison didnt seem to have heard of anyone taking a girl to the theater. He 
was, I suspected, overacting. Nobody set on me by F.R.S. could be that dim.
I guess you could bring her back here, he said at last, with a mediocre 
attempt at a leer.
Thats not what I mean. When one takes a girl to a show in Arneville, isnt 
there anywhere to go afterwards?
Only the Park.
The Park! To sit holding hands in the snow?
Harrison blinked. I meant Arne Park oh, I guess you wouldnt know. Its 
covered in, heated, and it stretches for miles. Its sort of a summer 
playground. Night and day.
I should have done my homework better. I knew Arne Park was the showplace of the 
planet, but I hadnt heard that it was totally enclosed. Vaguely I had imagined 
a few large hothouses and vast stretches of winter wonderland.
Thanks, Tom. Maybe well take a look at the Park. But not by night, the first 
time. By the way, have you any idea why this place is called the Parkview?
Well I guess it might have been possible to see the Park from here before that 
office block was built. There are lots of hotels with names like that, you know 
Park Hotel, Park Arms, Park Inn, Newpark, High-park
Between Park and Arne youve got all the names you need, I commented.
Well, Henry Arne was our first premier.
Yes, Tom, I said gently. I know.
Harrison tried to be helpful for a few minutes more, and then left. Id never 
met anyone connected with spying as uninterested in asking questions.
Terry arrived at the opera house only a few seconds after I did. Am I late? 
she asked breathlessly.
Youre the only girl I ever knew who wasnt, I said. Oh, but Im not 
sophisticated, she admitted. Im glad you told me. Here I was thinking you 
were a bored, blase, langorous woman of the world
Dont pull my leg, she said fiercely. I dont like it. So she had a temper. 
It was a surprise. In the shop that afternoon nothing I had said ruffled her, 
and when piles of music cascaded on the floor she merely shrugged resignedly.
When she hurried away to the ladies room I had an opportunity to ponder over 
the momentary flash of temper and what it meant. I was soon able to make a 
pretty good guess.
Agents of my type do not move in an atmosphere of blazing guns, flailing fists, 
exploded safes and chases in fast cars. Rarely had I been in the thick of 
violent action. I work by keeping my eyes and ears open and fixing on small 
things that dont seem to fitlike a sudden flash of irritation in a 
sunny-tempered girl
The theater was old and dark and massive. If it had only had gas instead of 
electricity, it would have been a Victorian opera house. I call it a theater and 
an opera house indiscriminately because the locals do the same. When opera is 
being performed, its the opera house. When its drama or vaudeville, its a 
theater.
The cloakrooms were far more extensive and elaborate than in Terran theaters. 
Since you couldnt sit in a theater and go outside clad the same way anyway, the 
custom was to make a complete transformation.
Terry came out hesitantly, and not without reason. She wore an ankle-length 
black satin gown, not particularly revealing, but of a type and cut which on all 
worlds tacitly proclaims the wearers profession. If I hadnt known already that 
Terrys mother was dead and that she had no sisters, that dress would have told 
me.
As she waited for me to say something, I had an opportunity to check on my 
guess. In the afternoon, nothing could ruffle her. In the evening, as she 
arrived for a date she might be expected to enjoy, the gentlest leg-pulling made 
her snap back. It didnt take a genius to deduce that something had happened in 
between. Now, what? Row with boyfriend when Terry insisted she was going anyway, 
so there? Row with Dad when she appeared in dress of which Dad did not approve? 
My guess was: row with Dad, but not over dress.
I didnt take the opportunity. Terry was inexperienced but intelligent. You 
couldnt pump her without letting her see she was being pumped.
You look lovely, I said. And in a way she did. Even in that dress.
She blushed, pleased. I took her in, my gentle touch on her bare arm intended to 
remind her that I could be her grandfather, very nearly her great-grandfather. 
It shouldnt have been necessary but then, she had no mother, and seemed to 
spend her time working in a shop which only had two customers in three hours. In 
experience she wasnt exactly as old as time.
The opera astonished me. First, it was good, which was odd: opera needs a 
tradition, and while one of a hundred Italian operas may be a masterpiece, you 
dont expect much of the only opera native to a planet. Id expected a sort of 
Beggars Opera, not a patriotic piece with a strong plot, good dialogue (almost 
unique in opera), some first-class ballet, fair music (the music was weakest) 
and really fervent acting.
At the first interval I told Terry how impressed I was, and she was pleased.
The second half was a slight disappointment. The patriotism started high and 
finished in a frenzy, too idealistic even for opera. The characterization, good 
at first, fell apart a little when character after character revealed not only 
impossible patriotism, but the same impossible patriotism. The hero, Henry 
Arnethe Arne who had been Solitaires first premierfirst sacrificed his love 
of the heroine to Solitaire, and later her life.
The opera was so long, and finished so late, that there was little question of 
going anywhere afterwards, though we had coffee at the theater before I took 
Terry home.
I was surprised to find that she agreed with me completely about the opera.
Dying for love is a beautiful idea, she said, but dying for a country is 
crazy, and sacrificing the girl you love for your world is crazier, and whenever 
it comes to that bit I want to be sick.
Youve seen it often?
Not often. Four or five times. They send us from school to see it.
You dont sound particularly patriotic, Terry, I said lazily.
Im not, she admitted frankly. Oh, if Id a chance to do something wonderful 
and romantic and exciting for Solitaire, like
She blushed and broke off in confusion.
Like what, Terry, I asked, smiling.
Anyway, if Id a chance to do anything like that, Id do it like a shot. But 
dying for an ideal
She went on for quite a while, and I listened. Presently I said quietly: And 
youre allowed to get away with that?
What do you mean?
In most countries and worlds where nationalism is deliberately cultivated, 
whipped up by propaganda and pieces like The Arne Story, people who talk as 
youve just been doing are liable to disappear.
Terry laughed, at least she started to laugh. Then she looked at me, startled, 
doubtful, and for a moment I genuinely wished I had not pricked her to see what 
she would happen.
Take me home, she said suddenly, breathlessly. I I have to start early 
tomorrow.
I took her home.
 
Next morning after breakfast I went back to my room and had a quick glance 
through the fourth edition of The Arne Story.
The broad outlines of the opera had not changed. A good deal of music was 
different, and my guess was that the later music was better. Presumably 
composers in the last two centuries had been encouraged to improve on the 
original settings if they could.
On the whole the opera had improved a great deal in its two centuries of 
existence. The early version was crude, rough, even more implausible than the 
contemporary version.
But the interesting thing about the comparison was that all the changes were 
designed to make the opera better and more effective patriotic propaganda. And 
it had been a propaganda piece in the first place.
I pushed the score aside and put my feet up. Later Id compare the two versions 
of the opera for my own purposes. Meantime I was here to find out something, and 
I didnt think The Arne Story in versions of ancient or modern could tell me 
much more than it already had.
The problem was simple. Solitaire had been colonized nearly three centuries 
earlier. It had never been a particularly attractive world, but its deposits of 
oil, coal, steel, diamonds, silver and platinum were at least average. Within 
fifty years there had been a population of nearly a hundred million. So far so 
good.
Now, over two hundred years later, the population was two hundred million and 
Solitaire was about the most backward world in the galaxy, with the lowest 
relative standard of living. (Terrys weekly wage, which she had mentioned when 
we were discussing Solitaire and Earth, would just about pay for a meal in a New 
York hotel. And my weekly bill at the Parkview was less than Id pay to stay one 
night at the same hotel.)
Why?
Solitaire issued no statistics, and all figures were therefore guesses. Other 
worlds, however, had figures showing that emigration from Solitaire was 
negligible.
So why was the population (estimated) so low? Why was the planet so apparently 
poor? Why only a trickle of exports?
What was Solitaire up to?
The question of a Solitaire secret arose only because agents sent to investigate 
the world on the spot either came back with nothing to report or didnt come 
back at all. Only a few failed to returnbut why should there be any spy 
casualties on a world which had nothing to hide?
Secret wasnt the right word to apply to the affairs of Solitaire. Uncertain was 
better. Even the precise form of government was uncertain, not because of the 
kind of iron wall you find in an out-and-out police state, but because hardly 
anyone seemed to know anything for sure. Although Solitaire was known to have a 
senate and a premier at its head, less was known of the present premier than of 
the first
Hence the appearance on the scene of me, Edwin Horsefeld, with one or two tricks 
up my sleeve. These days spies needed a gimmick more than nerve or brawn.
Having thought for a while I went to the library and found out all I could 
there. It took me only an hour and a half, and I didnt think Id missed much of 
importance.
The library contained only eight thousand books that had been written and 
published in the whole of Solitaire. Eight thousand in over two hundred years. 
The rest were reprints of standard texts obtainable anywhere in the galaxy.
Of the eight thousand, four thousand were novels. Three thousand dealt with the 
natural lore of the planet geography, geology, exploration, fauna and flora. 
That left me one thousand miscellaneous books to include all the social history, 
biography, poetry, essays, research, philosophy and psychology of a settlement 
nearly three centuries old.
It wasnt much.
In the afternoon I met Terry, by arrangement, and let her take me to the Park. 
It was her afternoon off.
The moment I saw her I knew that once again something had happened between our 
meetings.
I hoped it wasnt that both times shed seen her boyfriendso attractive a girl, 
however young, simply must have a steady boyfriend, or at least someone who 
imagined he wasand had now sent him packing, convinced she was in love with me. 
I thought Terry was too steady and sensible for that, and yet there was no 
denying that everything I had told her about Earth had seemed to fascinate her 
and that she already seemed to consider me as something much more than just an 
elderly male acquaintance.
Although she was evidently going to tell me something that she considered of 
immense importance, she stuck to trivialities until we were inside the Park.
The dome over the Park was larger than anything on Mars, coated to reflect as 
little light as possible, and scarcely visible as domes go. Inside was a vast, 
well-planned, well-maintained garden, warm as July in the northern hemisphere of 
Earth, cooled and aired by soft breezes. And this is a city where it snowed all 
the year round.
As I waited for Terry, who was hanging up her coat in the pavilion, I thought: 
Terran Intelligence should know more about Arne Park. Anything as untypical of 
its world as Arne Park is of Solitaire is worth a lot of attention.
There must be a reason for the Park. Apparently other agents had merely looked 
at it, said Very impressive, and taken their cloaks and daggers elsewhere. 
Well, maybe I was doing them an injustice. Nevertheless, the thought lingered: 
On a world like this, in a city like this, there must be a reason for such a 
vast, expensive, man-made miracle.
Terry joined me and I saw the reason for the Park. It was a place for her to 
wear her yellow playsuit, a neat little confection that fitted her as if shed 
been born wearing it. After the dreadful unsuitability of her appearance the 
night before, it was a relief to find her looking like any pretty sun-loving 
teenager.
Arent you going to change too, Edwin? she asked. -
I sighed. I would if I were about twenty-one. Looking at you I wish I were.
I didnt really; no sensible man of forty-eight really wants to be twenty-one 
again, unless in possession of all the knowledge, experience and advantages of 
forty-eight. But Terry was pleased.
We strolled along the walks and lanes of the Park. Practically everyone we saw 
was gay, exuberant, dressed in bright, frivolous clothes. Arne Park was where 
the people of Arneville threw off their inhibitions. No city in the galaxy 
needed such a place more. Yet the Park was anything but crowded. Working hours 
in Arneville were long.
We must have been about a mile from the pavilion when Terry said: I want to 
help you, Edwin.
To do what?
She took a deep breath and then said: I know youre a spy.
Do you? I said softly. Who told you?
Just before lunch yesterday somebody called the shop. He didnt give his name. 
He said you were coming and that I was to make friends with you. He said it 
wouldnt be dangerous, but I had a chance to prove my loyalty to Solitaire.
So Terry had not been planted. F.R.S. had simply co-opted her.
What else were you told? I asked quietly.
Very little, then. I guess I was deliberately told practically nothing so I 
wouldnt dare do anything rash, like asking questions that would tell you what 
was going on.
Youre very intelligent, Terry.
Well, I hope so. You know what happenedthe way things worked out I didnt have 
to do or say anything I might not have done anyway. I mean, Ive always been 
interested in Earth, and if there had been no phone call we might still have 
gone to the opera last night.
I nodded.
If Terry had not been instructed to say to me what she was saying now, shed 
made a terrible mistake. However, there was no going back now. I had to hear 
what she had to say.
When I went home my father was waiting for me with a tall, thin man. The tall 
man said he was Mr. Marks and asked me to repeat everything you and I had said 
to each other. I told him all I could remember, because it couldnt do any 
harmcould it?
No.
Then She hesitated.
Edwin, I think you guessed that my father and I dont get on. Hes its a 
terrible thing to say about my own father, but hes no good. After a while the 
atmosphere changed. I was no longer voluntarily cooperating with the police, as 
I thought. Marks was telling me what to do and warning me that my father would 
go to jail if I didnt do exactly as I was told that I might go to jail too. 
And my father was begging me to save him
I waited. I was very sorry for her. She was very young to be faced with such 
things.
They told me you were a spy and it was my duty to report on you. I dont think 
I let them see I was angry, but I was. I meanI liked you. I could tell you 
hadnt done anything bad, and werent going to do anything bad.
Yet you knew I was working for Earth, I said, against your world.
She shrugged. Earths never done us any harm, as far as I knew. Maybe if Marks 
had treated me differently, acted as if he trusted me Anyway, as it was I 
didnt know what to do. There was no harm in telling Marks exactly what you said 
and didunless I suddenly learned something important. If I did, I wasnt sure I 
wanted to tell Marks.
I nodded. I could understand her attitude, I thought, better than she did 
herself. She was very young, very inexperienced, and romantic, even sentimental. 
She had already had to learn that she could not rely on her father. Her world, 
her environment, her family had never done much for heryet being sensible and 
self-reliant she had made the best of everything and managed to be happy.
Then I came along. She liked meand she was coldly instructed to act like my 
friend, but report all I said to F.R.S.
F.R.S. was not so clever after all. They should have known what Terry would do. 
Did they?
You dont seem surprised, Terry said, a little deflated.
Im not. Terry, whenever I land on a strange planet the chances are that 
anybody who makes friends with me is working for local counter-intelligence. 
When I find a pretty girl being friendly, I can be practically sure of it.
That must make you very cynical, she said in a small voice.
No, why should it? Im not a character in a fairy story You havent told me 
everything yet. That interview with Marks was before we went to the opera, 
wasnt it? Whats happened since?
Oh, just more of the same. Marks was waiting when I got home, asked questions 
again, warned me again. He She flushed.
Might as well tell me.
He said it might be better if I slept with you.
I merely nodded. But I guessed that was what had really decided Terry to confide 
in me. She had practically no sexual experienceI hadnt lived nearly a half 
century without being able to discern such things. A young, imaginative girl 
with romantic notions might easily entertain the exciting thought of a 
passionate love affair with a spy. But it would have to be a love affair. To be 
coldly instructed to sell her virginity for her world was revolting.
After a pause I said gently: Do you know the danger youre in, Terry?
She blinked. Im not in any danger. Ive warned you.
Ill go on reporting to Marks. But I wont report anything thatll do you any 
harm.
I sighed. It was probably impossible to make her understand. And no good purpose 
would be served by trying.
Whos your boyfriend, Terry? I asked casually.
She flushed again and started. That was when I knew that she really was 
beginning to fancy herself in love with me.
To give herself time to think she dropped on the grass, stretched out her legs 
and lay on her back with her arms behind her head. Then, as an afterthought, she 
sat up again, unzipped the middle part of her yellow playsuit, tossed it aside 
and lay down as before.
Between the bottom of her small though well filled halter and the top of the 
briefs that dipped and rose from one hip to the other, all the fascinating 
tracery of firm adolescent muscles rippled as she moved. She had the kind of 
fantastic waist measurement that actresses claim and nymphets really possess.
I sat down beside her.
By this time she was ready to answer: I dont have a boyfriend.
You must have, Terry.
Well, theres Steve. But he oh, hes just a kid.
Have you seen him in the last twenty-four hours?
No. Anyway, theres nothing between us.
For a moment I wished Id never come to Solitaire. Probably I wouldnt find 
anything out. And though I expected to leave in one piece, it was now unlikely 
that Terry had much longer to live.
What she didnt understand was that to F.R.S. loyalty was a deadly serious 
business. She wouldnt be able to fool F.R.S., either. Sooner or later, whatever 
I did, Solitaires counter-espionage department would find out that Terry had 
(in their estimation) committed high treason.
So she hadunless all this was an act, something I didnt believe for a moment. 
The fact that Terry couldnt help me was neither here nor there. She had told a 
spy that she was on his side against her own world.
She sat up suddenly. Do you think Im cheap? she asked bluntly.
I couldnt help looking startled at the sudden challenge.
Showing myself like this? she went on. Youve gone quiet. Well, Im not 
cheap. I dont mind showing myself to you. Steve has meant nothing to me since I 
met you.
Terry, I said, I have two daughters, and one of them is about three years 
older than you. And I didnt marry particularly young.
Its true, she said bleakly. You do think Im cheap. She reached for the 
discarded part of her play-suit.
There was no way I could reassure her without abruptly changing the subject. So 
I changed it.
Terry, I said, taking the cover-up from her and putting it down again, I 
wonder if you really can help me. Have you noticed anything, absolutely 
anything, about the set-up on your world that puzzles you, or surprises you?
What sort of thing? She was still suspicious and hurt. Probably she felt 
guilty about Steveperhaps shed broken a date with him that afternoon or the 
night before; perhaps she felt shed thrown herself at my head and all I did was 
laugh at her.
Any sort of thing.
Well theres one thing I meant to tell you. Only I havent gotten around to 
it. Its only a rumor.
Yes?
There may be nothing in it. Its just Well, they say sometimes people 
disappear.
Disappear?
Oh, theyre not supposed to disappear. Theyre supposed to go somewhere else. 
But they only write once, or maybe twice, and then nobody ever hears of them 
again.
Thats very interesting, Terry, I said. But it wasnt. On a hyper-patriotic 
world like Solitaire there was undoubtedly a secret security service, though we 
knew nothing about it. Of course people disappeared. It would have been 
astonishing if they did not
Terry not being dressed for any place in Arneville except the Park, we had a 
snack at an open-air restaurant inside the dome and then I took her home.
I didnt know yet what to do about her. Pretty soon Id have to think up 
something she could tell Marks, something that would convince him Terry was 
loyal and useful, and that I was nowhere turning up anything. The second part 
was perfectly true.
For the moment, Terry was to tell Marks everything wed said with one obvious 
exception.
Back at the hotel, Tom Harrison, the eager beaver, was waiting for me. He wanted 
to know if there was anything further he could do to help.
I had an idea. No, thanks, Tom, I said. In factI can manage by myself now. 
Thanks for your help earlier. I appreciated it. But I neednt trouble you 
again.
Harrison nodded awkwardly. Okay, he said gruffly. I guess you dont want me 
hanging around any more, is that it?
Well, not exactly. As a matter of fact, the girl I told you about has been 
showing me around. Youre a nice guy, but you must admit youre not a pretty 
girl.
Harrisons face cleared. Oh, if its like that Well, if you want me, you know 
how to get in touch. So long.
I went upstairs. So long as the gloves were still on, F.R.S. wouldnt crowd me. 
But theyd still want to keep me under observation. Forcing them to do it 
through Terry gave her some temporary protection, I thought.
Indeed, within an hour or so I had certain plans worked out, plans I wont 
bother to detail, for I never had a chance to put them into effect.
It was still fairly early when a porter came to tell me a young lady was waiting 
for me downstairs.
I went down at once. The visitor could only be Terry. It was a mistake her 
coming to see me at the Parkview, where everything I did must be under 
observation and where the walls undoubtedly had ears. The best I could do was 
act as if Id been expecting her, and hope she had the sense to wait until we 
were outside before she said anything that mattered.
She had. She hadnt taken off her coat, and was waiting as if we had arranged to 
go out together. I thought there was something a little tense about her smile.
She waited until we were well away from the Parkview, walking along Arne Way, 
before she said anything about the reason for her call. It was getting dark, and 
a soft, fine snow was falling. It was bitterly cold; we breathed out white 
clouds. Terry, who had never previously shown any sign of feeling the cold, was 
shivering.
Edwin, she said suddenly, its all gone wrong.
As we walked she told me what had happened. Whenever anyone came close she 
stalled until we were in effect alone again.
When I left her and she went in, she heard Marks and her father talking. She 
didnt go straight in to them, but went to her bedroom to change.
In her bedroom she caught one or two words which made her creep quietly into a 
boxroom to hear better.
Marks was telling her father that in order to be certain that she was telling 
the truth and the whole truth, he was going to shoot her full of drugs when she 
came in
Terry didnt have to tell me how completely this changed the picture for her. 
Probably shed had some vague idea appropriate to her years that it would be 
quite easy to turn awkward questions aside, and that even if later she was 
tortured in the not too unbearable way reserved for heroines, shed insist 
bravely that she had told the truth.
She hadnt seen Marks drugging her to take her will away from her. There was 
nothing romantic about that. You couldnt fight it
I crept out quietly, she concluded, and came straight to you.
Dont you realize, Terry, I said, that you were meant to hear exactly what 
you did hear, and do exactly what you have donecome running to me in a panic?
She drew herself up sharply. Im not in a panic!
You should be. I would be, if I were you.
Whywhat do you mean?
Ive got some protection. I havent broken any local or international law.
But youre a spy!
Please dont shout it in the middle of the street, Terry. In a sense I am, but 
I dont have to go outside the law to do what I want to do. Certainly F.R.S. 
will put me out of the way if they consider its got to be done, but theyll 
know that Earth wont be at all pleased if they do, and might even take the 
opportunity of clamping down on Solitaire and ordering a full-scale 
investigation, in the course of which theyll have an excellent chance of 
finding out what I was sent here to find out. F.R.S. knows all that. But you
What about me? she asked defiantly.
She could no longer be allowed to deceive herself about her position.
Well, you see, Terry, only Solitaire has any responsibility for you. No one 
else can possibly interfere. If your own authorities decide, without trial or 
any public mention of your case, that youre a traitor, theres nothing whatever 
to stop them .
She stared at me in horror. You mean Im going to be shotand theres nothing 
you can do?
I pulled her down on a bench at a street corner. It was not a comfortable place 
to sit, with the snow sifting down, but we were much safer out in the open than 
in any place where we could be overheard.
The way Terry was shivering made me think of something.
What are you wearing under your coat?
Justwhat I wore in the Park. I didnt take time to change.
Thats a great help, I murmured. That means we cant go anywhere where youd 
have to take off your coat.
Except the Park.
In the afternoon she had told me that the Park was busier by night than by day. 
And there was no police patrol charged with the duty of protecting public 
morality. The official view, a more practical one than that of some apparently 
better organized worlds, was that if no convenient place was provided for young 
lovers to do what young lovers did, innocent or not so innocent, the only real 
effect was to drive them into the willing arms of those who made money out of 
vice.
So we could go to the Park again and not be too conspicuous. F.R.S. could find 
us there with ease; but then, F.R.S. could find us sooner or later wherever we 
went.
Meantime, I said, is there anybody you can trust, literally with your life? 
Not your father, evidently.
Certainly not my father, she said with more bitterness than I had ever heard 
in her voice.
Aunts, uncles, cousins?
Only Steve, she said in a small voice. And I dont like------
Never mind whether you like it or not. Well go and see Steve.
First we gave the men trailing us nightmares. There might not be anyone trailing 
us; still, I had too much respect for F.R.S. to take any chances.
I had failed in my job on Solitaire. All I was trying to do now was to take 
Terry away with me in one piece, if that was possible. I didnt think it was.
We jumped on and off buses, entered buildings by one doorway and left by 
another, hurried through crowds, and stayed quietly in cover waiting for anyone 
following us to overrun us. With my experience and Terrys knowledge of the 
city, we were soon sure that we were clear.
Then we called at Steves lodgings. I was fully aware that we might pick up our 
tail again by calling there. However, I didnt mention this to Terry. She had 
enough to worry about.
Why, hello, Miss Terry, said the landlady, faintly surprised. Didnt Steve 
call you before he left?
Left? said Terry with foreboding.
Hes gone to Bennerwald. But he must be meaning to write. I guess well all be 
getting a letter from him tomorrow.
Terry was going to say more, a lot more. I gripped her elbow hard. With an 
effort she thanked the landlady and came away.
Wheres Bennerwald? I asked.
On the other side of the planetten thousand miles away. He couldnt have
Dont talk too much.
We went through another tail-amputating operation. When I considered it safe we 
sat on another bench, huddled together so that we would be taken for lovers.
Hes disappeared, Terry said flatly.
The emphasis she put on the word made me repeat it interrogatively.
Disappearedlike the ones I told you about.
Im afraid youre right.
She shuddered and clutched me convulsively. Yet the way she took it convinced me 
that she had never been in love with Steve.
Was he a rebel? I asked. Against patriotism and propaganda, I mean? Did he 
shoot his mouth off a lot?
Terry stared. No. Quite the opposite. Really? I said.
Yeswe often argued. As I told you, I wouldnt mind loving my country if my 
country didnt work so hard trying to make me. But with Steve
She shrugged. Remember The Arne Story? Well, Steve would sacrifice me for 
Solitaire. That wouldnt have been so bad if he didnt keep boasting about it.
I was beginning to become interested. Terry, think of all the other people you 
knew who might have disappeared. What were they like?
I told you, nobody can be sure. Maybe nobody disappeared. It may be nothing 
more than a rumor
I know that. But you can make a guess. The people who go on long journeys, 
write once or twice and then stop writingare they young or old? Men or women? 
Rebels or patriots?
Young, mostly. You dont get older people uprooting themselves. Both men and 
women. And usuallyquite patriotic. Anyway, not rebels. Thats very 
interesting, I said. Edwinwhere can we go? Some other town? No, therell be 
a watch on all travel depots. A hotel? Likewise.
Then lets go to the Park. Im freezing. All right.
Before we moved, however, a fresh-faced man came past, saluting me cheerfully as 
he went by. It was Tom Harrison.
F.R.S. was so efficient that if they lost our trail they could easily pick it up 
again. More than that, so cocky that they wanted me to know we were being 
watched. What, I wondered, were they trying to make me do? We left our coats at 
the Park pavilion. Once more we had done our best to give the watchers the slip. 
After all, we might succeed. They might decide that the Park, which was a trap 
even if a very large one, was the last place wed go.
Not that it made any real difference. F.R.S. might or might not let me leave 
Solitaire when I chose, might or might not let me take Terry with meand there 
was nothing I could do about it.
Arne Park by night was wonderful, twice as wonderful as by dayespecially to 
people coming straight in out of the snow.
The dome glowed with electroactinic light matched to some reflecting index which 
did not interfere with the passage of sunlight the other way. I could not see 
the source. The light was not bright, only a little stronger than that of a full 
moon on Earth.
And the huge Park was alive with couples. It must be the longest, widest and 
busiest lovers lane in the whole of the galaxy. Soft laughter came from behind 
every bush.
I was relieved to find that Terry in her yellow playsuit was not unduly 
conspicuous. The Park was as warm as by day, and since it was a place for the 
young, the clothes worn were youthful.
We kept walking because when we moved it was scarcely possible that what we said 
could be overheard.
Terry, I said. Have I got this right? The people who disappear are young, of 
both sexes, and highly patriotic?
Thats my impression.
Before they get married and have children?
Well, of course. You said that was interesting. Why?
Because in this kind of world the people you expect to disappear are the people 
who disapprove of the setup the individualists, rebels, intellectuals, 
anarchists, agitators, reformers.
Wellits not like that.
So they disappear . . . they dont die.
How do you make that out?
How much do you know about Henry Arne, the Arne this park and the city are 
named after?
Oh, quite a lot. Ive been to school, you know. What do you want to know?
I dont need to ask you about him, Terry. Im a historian, you know. Suppose 
hed been an individualist himself, a fanatic believer in human freedom, he 
might long ago have set up a secret but all-powerful organization to weed out 
the conformists, the yes-men, the people who could be influenced by propaganda.
Terry stopped and grabbed my arm. Thats what happened! Of course it is!
I shook my head. No. Arne loved Solitaire so much he was crazy about it. In 
that way he was a fanatic. He had so much power he was nothing more or less than 
a dictator. Anything he wanted done was done. So anything he wanted set up was 
set up. Openly or secretly.
You think he did set up some secret organization?
Yes, but not the kind I mentioned. Arne believed passionately that if Solitaire 
were fully developed it would inevitably be ruined by the predators who are 
drawn to a rich, successful world, or who are created by it. He believed that if 
Solitaire were to grow up strong and free and healthy, it must grow up poor.
This time Terry didnt say anything. She was lost. After all, she knew nothing 
about any world but her own. She had nothing to compare it with.
Whether Arne was right or not, I mused, what he wanted for Solitaire has come 
about. Either by chance or by design, Solitaire hasnt grown strong and rich and 
successful. It could hardly be by chance, for reasons which I wont go into just 
now. So it must be by designalmost certainly Arnes design. Which means that he 
somehow set up a situation, a plan, which is still working two centuries after 
his death.
None of this is new, Terry. Anybody who took the trouble could make guesses 
along these lines without coming near Solitaire. And when you said there were 
rumors of disappearances, that wasnt any surprise either. The population of 
Solitaire should be multiplying itself by about six every century. And its not. 
At a guess, with no figures to go on, its only multiplied itself by two in two 
centuries.
You cant mean that all these people have disappeared. That they were born and 
and
Died? Were transported? Well, what do you think, Terry? Doesnt nearly 
everybody get married? Doesnt the average couple have three children?
I guess so. But what does that mean?
It means, I said, that in the last two hundred years anything from one to 
three thousand million people have disappeared.
I expected some reaction from Terry. There was none. Looking around me, I saw 
why. ,
Men were approaching us from all directions. They were so purposeful that it was 
clear F.R.S. had decided to take us inif not to shoot us on the spot.
Running was futile. Even Terry realized that. She shrank against me and I 
squeezed her hand.
Tom Harrison was in charge.
So youre something quite important in F.R.S., Tom, I said conversationally.
Quite important, he said drily, with no trace of his former diffident manner. 
In fact, Im the chief.
Im honored, I said.
At the gate, Harrison refused to allow us to take our coats. He was right. There 
was something about my coat that well, anyway, it didnt really matter.
Youre not making Terry go outside like that? I protested.
Theres a car just outside the door, said Harrison briefly.
There were quite a lot of people about, and naturally they stared as we were 
hustled into the car. Terry shivered violently as the snowflakes settled on her 
bare shoulders. But then we were in the car, and she had more to worry about 
than the cold.
We were taken to a room in Government House, a small room with nothing important 
in itno windows, one door, a table, some chairs. Present were Harrison, Terry 
and I, and two other men, not in uniform.
We wont do any pretending, shall we? asked Harrison.
Not if youd rather not, I said agreeably.
Frankly, said Harrison, Id rather you simply decided to go away, Horsefeld.
Taking Terry with me?
She stays here, whatever happens. Casually, he looked her up and down, rather 
as if he were a censor and she were a dirty book.
Terry went pale.
She never took to Solitaires nationalism, I said easily. I think youd 
better let her come to Earth with me.
Harrison shook his head. For a moment something hard showed in his eyes: he 
didnt like traitors. And there was no denying that Terry was a traitor.
Didnt you expect her to throw in her lot with me? I asked.
We did not. We thought either loyalty or sense would keep her from the stupid 
course she has taken. Not that it greatly matters. You leave Solitaire no wiser 
than when you came, Horsefeld.
Youre sending me away, then?
After youve both been questioned under drugs. You can see the girl die if you 
like before you go.
In that case, I said, Id better talk now and save time.
Bluffing is useless. Were using the drugs anyway.
But questioning under drugs is extremely slow, as we both know very well. When 
I talk, do you want these two to hear what I say? I indicated the two guards.
Harrison nodded to them and they went outside. That was interesting. Our chances 
of escape remained precisely nil, but the fact that Harrison sent them away 
probably meant that they were not in the secretthat very few were, in fact.
Ive found out quite a lot about the Arne plan, I said, and guessed the rest. 
Enough to stop it, I think.
Harrisons reaction was slight, but there was a reaction. I was greatly 
encouraged. I didnt know the whole story, any more than a fortune-teller did 
when a client entered. Yet she was trained to make an initial good guess and go 
on guessing, instantly abandoning a false trail and following up anything that 
got a reaction.
I was surprised that Harrison let me do this. However, Harrison erroneously 
thought he held all the cards.
Everybody always knew about the disappearances, I said, but that was 
Solitaires affair. We thought rebels were simply eliminated. We didnt know 
they were being saved up, put in the bank, so to speak. We should have known. 
Its exactly the kind of crazy scheme Henry Arne would think up. Anything to put 
Solitaire on topanything.
Harrison looked back at me as blankly as Terry was doing.
Yet he was still listening. So I went on with a new surge of confidence, knowing 
that even if I didnt have everything, I had enough. I admit I dont know where 
the Arne army is, but once I realized that it was the patriots who were put 
away, I knew they were in suspended animation somewhere. Probably under the 
Park. You havent really been very clever, Harrison. In fact, wasnt it rather 
stupid to let me know you knew Terry was on my side and that you were watching 
us, and do nothing until we started wandering around in the Park?
Horsefeld, said Harrison quietly, what are you up to? You know I cant let 
you go now.
Fool of a man, I thought exultantly. Hed told me I was right.
- The end of the plan, I guess, I said, is that in a few centuries from now 
Solitaire will gradually waken up. Exports will rise, assets will be converted 
into cash and machinery. Thousands of young people will be sent to Earth and 
other planets to attend colleges. Theyll come back as trained up-to-the-minute 
technicians, and theyll start turning Solitaire into a slick, high-powered, 
efficient world. Then the army will be awakened and trained. By that time it 
could be as many billion strong as you want. An army of------&#9632;
For what? Harrison snapped.
An army that size consisting entirely of patriots could only be designed for 
one thingto make Solitaire top dog in the galaxy. Obviously Arne was a 
megalomaniac. I dont know how he ensured that only other megalomaniacs should 
be chosen to play their part in the scheme through the centuries, but evidently 
he succeeded-------
Harrisons gun came up. He wasnt going to argue. He was merely executing Terry 
and me on the spot, to make sure there were no more mistakes.
I wouldnt do it if I were you, I said, putting an edge in my voice. Not long 
go you asked what I was up to. You knew I must be up to something. You were 
quite right. I was.
Well? said Harrison, his gun pointed straight at my heart.
Youve let yourself get behind technologically here on Solitaire, I said 
steadily. So far behind that it probably never even occurred to you that 
everything that was said in this room was being picked up and recorded for 
delivery to Earth?
Harrison didnt try to hide his consternation. If I was bluffing, it wouldnt 
gain me anything, but a little time. If I wasnt, neither he nor I mattered much 
any more.
These buttons, I said, fingering them. I expect you had them examined very 
closely, as you examined everything elseI noticed how thorough the so-called 
customs examination was. Theyre simple, ordinary plastic buttons. X-rays would 
show nothingyou tried all that, of course. If you sawed them up youd still 
find nothing. But they happen to be of a new material that resonates with sound 
vibrations, and on one of the two Terran Navy ships hanging about just clear of 
Solitaires atmosphere the most powerful amplifier you ever saw is able 
to-------
I dont believe it.
You dont have to. I can prove it if you like.
How?
Would you like a bomb dropped on Arne Park in ten minutes time? Or in a more 
friendly spirit, some colored lights over Arneville? Let me suggest we make it a 
tender for Terry and me, landing in front of this building in say an hours 
time?
Harrison was staring at me. Suddenly he said: Get out of those clothes. I want 
every stitch youre wearing. He turned his head to Terry. You too.
I laughed. Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted only prevents 
him getting back in.
Quickly! said Harrison sharply. Or I shoot you both, here and now.
Trying hard not to show her fear of the gun waving about at us, Terry stood up 
straight, defiantly, and started to unfasten her playsuit. I let her go on, 
because I had thought of something else Id better tell the Navy ships, although 
it should hardly be necessary.
If you have any idea of chasing the ships or trying to blow them out of space, 
I said, forget it. The first ship must already be building up acceleration back 
to Earth. She has all the information she needs. And youll never catch her 
Terry, hold it.
I want those clothes, said Harrison savagely.
Take the buttons, I said, tearing them off. Be reasonable, Tom. If Im lying, 
theres no point in destroying my clothes, as I presume youre going to do. If 
Im not, its too lateIve said enough already, and anything else thats said 
will hardly be worth recording.
Harrison hesitated. All right, he said abruptly. Tell them to send down the 
tender. But Ill take those buttons. He did.
Terry, who had taken off the wrap-around part of her suit and was halfway 
through making the penultimate sacrificeI caught a quick glimpse of one rosy 
firm breastreclaimed her modesty at the moment of surrender.
You, said Harrison viciously, his cold gaze on Terry, are not going.
Dropping the buttons in his pocket, he went out.
Terry said: Edwin, is all that true?
All, I said. Say what you like, Terry, so long as you remember that F.R.S. is 
taking careful note of everything you say.
The polite hint startled her only for a moment.
Are they going to let us go?
Me, yes. Terry, no. Terry had helped to break the Arne planfor it was certainly 
broken now. Harrison and F.R S wouldnt let her get away with it. Nearly 
everybody is vicious in defeat.
However, if I put my awareness of this into words, it would finish off any 
chance I might have of saving Terry.
She had not picked up her wrap and although she was holding her suntop together 
she had not fastened it. I knew that with the frightening directness of 
innocence she was trying even at this moment to provoke some reaction from me. 
Although she had never put it into words, she made no secret of her 
disappointment and pique that I had never treated her in a way I would not have 
treated my own teenage daughters.
That crazy story cant be true, can it?
Its crazy but its certainly true- in essence.
That all these people who disappeared are alive, and can be brought back? Steve 
too?
Yes. In a way its a heroic plan, from the Solitaire angle. An army of 
specially selected patriots never existed before. It would fight as no army has 
ever fought
I cant understand why you should be allowed to go.
Well, Im here as Earths semi-official representative. And whatever Solitaire 
might be in a few hundred years, as of now Earth could crack her like an 
eggshell. If Harrison shot me, Earth could use my death as an excuse to take 
Solitaire apart.
Since she apparently wasnt going to do it, I gently fastened her halter by the 
button in the middle and put the wrap around her.
Edwin, she pleaded, dont you care about me at all?
I care about you very much. Care for youno, not in the way you mean. Terry, 
there hasnt been much love in your life, thats obvious. You dont really want 
me as a lover, you want me as a father.
I dont! I-------
With me as a father, youd soon find yourself seeing boys your own age with 
different eyes. A girl your age needs parents so she can grow out of them.
We talked for an hour. Terry never once mentioned her own danger. In much the 
same way, patients who know they are going to die make plans for the future.
At last Harrison came back. A small ship has just landed outside, he said.
So?
So youd better get on it.
And what are you going to do? What did the premier say?
Harrison hesitated, then smiled faintly. Tell Earth, Horsefeld, he said, that 
you cant do a thing to us. As of now, the Arne plan is reversed. If we 
mustwell grow rich and fat. Weve all the workers we need to transform 
Solitaire.
I grinned back. So thats the way of it? Thats your business, so long as the 
original Arne plan is buried. Its nothing to us. Come along, Terry.
Terry isnt going. I told you.
Then neither am I.
Dont be a fool, said Harrison harshly. Did you ever think there was one 
chance in a million that wed let her live?
Terry tried to hide behind me. As she pressed against me I could feel her heart 
racing.
I can make things awkward for you, or easy, I said. Which is it to be?
Harrison hesitated again. I havent the power to let her go.
But Im supposed to go, isnt that so?
I let the deadlock hang for a few more seconds. Harrison was not really a good 
actor. His chubby, innocent face might reveal very little; his hesitations and 
silences revealed a lot.
I was now certain he had been instructed to see me off the planet.
Tell you what, I said at last. Let us get to the tender, then shoot Terryand 
miss. Thatll clear you personally.
Okay, said Harrison instantly.
We walked through Government House, which was silent and empty. We were 
accompanied not by two but by seven guards, so it was a procession of ten that 
strode through the empty, echoing building.
We marched out into the night. Again Terry shivered in the snow. The tender was 
two hundred yards away, a miniature spaceship, sleek, gleaming, and with an air 
of terrible efficiency.
I hung back to let Terry go first. We were almost at the ship. Terran naval 
officers were saluting me and eyeing Terry with startled admiration.
She could have stretched out her arms and touched the hull.
Unfortunately it was Harrison I was watching; Harrison did nothing. It was one 
of the guards who raised his gun suddenly and fired.
The instant before the shot, I pulled Terrys arm and she lurched toward me. 
Nevertheless, the shot didnt miss. She dropped in the snow with a small red 
hole in her back.
 
I swept her up in my arms and leapt inside, knowing Harrison wouldnt let me be 
shot. Inside the lock I saw familiar faces. Get off, quick, I said, still 
holding Terry in my arms. She had not made a sound since the shot. Although I 
had known she was tiny, she was even lighter than I expected.
There is always a doctor on a tender, by regulation. The doctor stepped forward 
and led the way to a tiny cabin. I put Terry face down on the bunk.
Now go away, said the doctor.
In the control room Commander Stimson shook my hand. Well, you made it, Edwin. 
Did you ever hear anything so crazy? Would they have gotten away with it?
They might, I said. Depends on our espionage system a few centuries from 
now.
I must say, Stimson protested, I didnt expect you of all people to bring a 
half naked girl away with you.
I found it hard to be polite. All my thoughts were in the tiny cabin in which 
Terry lay still with a bullet through her lung certainly, if not through her 
heart.
Funny business altogether, said Stimson, who was a good naval officer but not 
gifted with much imagination. Hard to believe some of it. In fact, I dont 
believe it now. 
Well leave that to Terran Intelligence, I said.
The tender shot up toward its parent ship. The battleship swallowed it neatly 
and immediately began to pile on acceleration for Earth.
The door in the little cabin in the tender had not yet opened.
I had to make my report to the captain. I had changed my clothes before going 
back to the tender.
At last the doctor emerged.
Will she live? I asked.
Oh, I shouldnt be surprised. She shouldnt have been moved, you know.
Can I see her?
The doctor shrugged.
I went into the cabin quietly. Terry looked ghastly. If Id seen her like that 
before seeing the doctor Id have been sure she was dying. But she was 
conscious.
Next stop Earth, I said gently.
Edwin
Dont talk, I said. And anyway, youre not to call me Edwin any more.
What am I to call you?
I said one word very firmly: Dad.